Cortana Is Off-Limits To Users Aged Below 13 Years Old

Parents, if you’re planning on getting your child their own Windows Phone handset, you might be interested to learn that one of Windows Phone 8.1’s features, Cortana, will not be available to your kids as long as they are aged below 13 years. It has been recently discovered that users whose Microsoft account has been marked as a “child” account are not able to access Cortana.

Attempts to use the voice assistant feature will be met with a message that reads, “I’m sorry, you’ll need to be a bit older before I can help you.” Basically what this means is that if you wanted your kids to be able to use Cortana, the Microsoft account that they sign in with needs to be yours, otherwise they’d be out of luck, at least until they turn 13.

From that error message, all users are left to do is exit the screen because Cortana will not be able to function otherwise. It is unclear as to why Microsoft has decided that the minimum age to use Cortana has to be 13 years and above, but it could be a legal thing especially with regards to internet services. After all we’ve seen some restrictions when it comes to signing up for certain services that one needs to be at least 13 years and above, or in some cases, 18 and above.

Microsoft has yet to issue an official statement on the matter but in the meantime, this is definitely something to take note of, especially if you’re planning on getting your kids a Windows Phone handset, unless of course the lack of the Cortana voice assistant feature is not a big deal to you.